Wednesday, September 20, 2006

It’s time for another installment of The Darwin Awards. This is a crushing story about a boy and his pet.(11 October 1996, New York) A teenager was crushed to death by his pet python after he had failed to keep the snake properly fed, police reported. Grant Williams, 19, was found unconscious in a pool of blood, the life practically squeezed out of him by a 12ft Burmese python named Damien, which was still wrapped over his body. The snake had been given nothing more than a single dead chicken in the past week and may have been crazed by hunger. Mr Williams was found in the hallway. He may have been trying to escape the flat to summon help. Medical orderlies summoned the strength ¬ of body and of mind ¬ to lift the 45lb, 5in-thick python off Mr Williams and hurl it into an adjacent room, but the snake lover died in hospital. At the time of the attack, Mr Williams was preparing to feed Damien a live chicken. It is possible that the python, peckish, opted for the larger prey. When on the brink of a kill, the Burmese python (Molorus bivattatus) can move with deadly speed, and there are few creatures able to escape its grasp. Mr Williams may have suspected that his familiarity with Damien placed him above danger, but a hungry python does not quibble about such niceties. Captain Thomas Kelly, from the 46th precinct, said: "It looks accidental." Mr Williams and his brother kept a number of snakes, many uncaged, in their Bronx flat. The dead man's mother, Carmelita Williams, said that she had tried to persuade her son to abandon his hobby. "I begged him to get rid of the python," she said, weeping. "I even threatened to call the police." Damien was last night caged at an animal control centre, after being fed. Its fate is uncertain.

I guess it would be a rude awakening if all animals suddenly started eating those who neglected them. Of course, I think Tesla (my mutt) considers it neglect when she doesn't have at least two playdates each week.